Implementing total productive maintenance in Nigerian manufacturing industries

Remarkable improvements have occurred recently in the maintenance management of physical assets and productive systems, so that less wastages of energy and resources occur. The requirement for optimal preventive maintenance using, for instance, justin-time (JIT) and total quality-management (TQM) techniques has given rise to whathas been called the total productive-maintenance (TPM) approach. This study explores the ways in which Nigerian manufacturing industries can implement TPM as a strategy and culture for improving its performance and suggests self-auditing and bench-marking as desirable prerequisites before TPM implementation

Development and implementation of preventive-maintenance practices in Nigerian industries.

A methodology for the development of PM using the modern approaches of FMEA, root-cause analysis, and fault-tree analysis is presented. Applying PM leads to a cost reduction in maintenance and less overall energy expenditure. Implementation of PM is preferable to the present reactive maintenance procedures (still prevalent in Nigeria

Estimation of the Levels of Fe in Wheat and Maize Flour Milled using Commercial Milling Machine and A Home Blender

Milling devices are among the most commonly used in our indigenous markets and homes and variety of elements such as Cu, Ni, Zn, Pb, Ti, Co, Cr, Al, Si, and Fe are used in their manufacture and fabrication. Often times they are present as alloys. With prolonged processing, these metals are gradually introduced as contaminants in the food being processed. Wheat and maize were selected for this study due to their wide usage as sources of protein and carbohydrate in Nigeria and Africa in general. The samples were cleaned by picking out sand, stones and other impurities and ground using the commercial milling machine and a home blender and were digested with HNO3 and HClO4 in the ratio of 4:1 and analyzed using AAS. Average Fe concentration values for both wheat and maize samples milled with commercial milling machine is 13.53 mg/kg and 26.79 mg/kg respectively while samples milled with the home blender gave concentration values of 4.00 mg/kg and 2.64 mg/kg for wheat and maize respectively. The high concentration of Fe in ground maize and wheat milled using the commercial milling machine could be attributed to the abrasive friction of the grinding disc as the grains come in contact with it during grinding resulting in its chipping off into the milled sample. It is therefore recommended that the commercial milling machine be redesigned with the incorporation of a permanent magnet to minimize or totally eliminate the introduction of Fe fillings into the ground grains and other foodstuffs. Keywords: Commercial milling machine, wheat, maize, contaminants, home blender, grindin

Evaluation of antifungal effect of Parkia biglobosa and Vitellaria paradoxa against selected pathogenic fungi

The aim of this study was to evaluate the antifungal effects of extracts of two plant species namely Vitellaria paradoxa and Parkia biglobosa against growth of some selected fungal species. Aqueous and ethanolic extracts of these plant species were assessed against Aspergillus flavus, Candida albican and Trichophyton mentagrophyte. Phytochemical analysis of these plants showed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins and other secondary metabolites. The minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of aqueous extract of P. biglobosa was 150 mg mL-1 against both C. albican and A. flavus. On the other hand, ethanolic extract of this plant species had MFC of 300 mg mL-1 for A. flavus, while there was no MFC for C. albican. Likewise, aqueous extract of V. paradoxa also had same value of MFC against C. albican as well as A. flavus. Ethanolic extract of V. paradoxa had MFC of 150 and 300 mg mL-1 against C. albican and A. flavus, respectively. The combined aqueous extracts of these plant species showed MFC of 300 mg mL-1 against both the C. albican and A. flavus. By contrast, the mixture of ethanolic extracts had MIC of 150 mg mL-1 against C. albican, and no MFC for A. flavus

Evaluation and Recommendations for Routine Genotyping Using Skim Whole Genome Re-sequencing in Canola

Whole genome sequencing offers genome wide, unbiased markers, and inexpensive library preparation. With the cost of sequencing decreasing rapidly, many plant genomes of modest size are amenable to skim whole genome resequencing (skim WGR). The use of skim WGR in diverse sample sets without the use of imputation was evaluated in silico in 149 canola samples representative of global diversity. Fastq files with an average of 10x coverage of the reference genome were used to generate skim samples representing 0.25x, 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, and 5x sequencing coverage. Applying a pre-defined list of SNPs versus de novo SNP discovery was evaluated. As skim WGR is expected to result in some degree of insufficient allele sampling, all skim coverage levels were filtered at a range of minimum read depths from a relaxed minimum read depth of 2 to a stringent read depth of 5, resulting in 28 list-based SNP sets. As a broad recommendation, genotyping pre-defined SNPs between 1x and 2x coverage with relatively stringent depth filtering is appropriate for a diverse sample set of canola due to a balance between marker number, sufficient accuracy, and sequencing cost, but depends on the intended application. This was experimentally examined in two sample sets with different genetic backgrounds: 1x coverage of 1,590 individuals from 84 Australian spring type four-parent crosses aimed at maximizing diversity as well as one commercial F1 hybrid, and 2x coverage of 379 doubled haploids (DHs) derived from a subset of the four-parent crosses. To determine optimal coverage in a simpler genetic background, the DH sample sequence coverage was further down sampled in silico. The flexible and cost-effective nature of the protocol makes it highly applicable across a range of species and purposes

Impact of corporate culture on plant maintenance in the Nigerian electric-power industry

Comparisons have been made of modern maintenance-practices, i.e. in the more developed economies, with what occurs in Nigeria. Significant differences arise due to variations in corporate culture, pertinent learning opportunities and effectiveness of strategic planning. The managerial implications of these divergences are discussed. A systematic, total productive-maintenance (TPM) approach needs to be adopted to allow corporate changes to be implemented at a rate commensurate with each organization's evolving culture. This paper advocates that maintenance should be managed better, in each organization, so as to cultivate a sense of ownership in the operators. Also autonomous maintenance-teams, consisting of operators, engineers and managers, should be set up with the aims of improving personnel competence and equipment performance

Reducing the cost of preventive maintenance (PM) through adopting a proactive reliability-focused culture.

The economic and political realities of the 1990s forced managers to reverse long-standing organizational cultures in order to reduce costs and energy expenditures in their organisations. For instance, these can be achieved, with respect to maintenance, by replacing a reactive repair-focused attitude by a proactive reliability-focused culture. Thereby far less (i) human effort is expended and (ii) energy would be wasted, both of which lead to increased profitability

Petrochemical industry in Nigeria: a performance appraisal

For any country, having a large indigenous petrochemical-producing industry tends to lead to raised prosperity, improved average standard-of-living for the population and the introduction of associated modern-technology locally. However, such benefits in Nigeria have as yet not been forthcoming to significant extents. This project reviews what needs to be done in the industry to achieve these desired improvements

Reliability of the Afam electric power generating station, Nigeria

Today’s economic climate requires that each industry aim at achieving maximum production capability while minimizing capital investment e.g. in the maintenance function. This means finding ways to maximize equipment reliability and up-time and extend plant and equipment life through cost effective maintenance. This paper surveys the performance of gas turbine plants in Afam Thermal Power Station. The findings show that the impact of lost generation (through non-availability) exceeded within a few years, the initial purchase price of the power plants and associated equipments

Gas-turbine diagnostics using artificial neural-networks for a high bypass ratio military turbofan engine

The Tristar aircraft, operated by the Royal Air Force, fly many thousands of hours per year in the transport and air-to-air refuelling roles. A large amount of engine data is recorded for each of the Rolls-Royce RB211-524B4 engines: it is used to aid the maintenance process. Data are also generated during test-bed engine ground-runs after repair and overhaul. In order to use recorded engine data more effectively, this paper assesses the feasibility of a pro-active engine diagnostic-tool using artificial neural networks (ANNs). Engine-health monitoring is described and the theory behind an ANN is described. An engine diagnostic structure is proposed using several ANNs. The top level distinguishes between single-component faults (SCFs) and double-component faults (DCFs). The middle-level class includes components, or component pairs, which are faulty. The bottom level estimates the values of the engine-independent parameters, for each engine component, based on a set of engine data using dependent parameters. The DCF results presented in this paper illustrate the potential for ANNs as diagnostic tools. However, there are also a number of features of ANN applications that are user-defined: ANN designs; the number of training epochs used; the training function employed; the method of performance assessment; and the degree of deterioration for each engine-component's performance parameter